Fambee vs Skylight Calendar
Updated October 19, 2026
Skylight is a touchscreen calendar for the kitchen wall plus a companion app, and its email import works when you forward emails to it on the paid Calendar Plus plan. Fambee is a phone app with no hardware that reads your inbox on its own, so nobody has to remember to forward anything.
Side by side
| Fambee | Skylight | |
|---|---|---|
| What you buy | An iPhone app | A touchscreen display plus an app |
| Cost (Oct 2026) | Free with a monthly allowance; Pro is $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year | Displays reviewed at about $160 (10 in), $300 (15 in) and $600 (27 in); Calendar Plus $79 a year |
| How emailed events get in | Reads your Gmail or Outlook inbox automatically, read-only | Forward emails to your Skylight address (Magic Import, Calendar Plus) |
| Meal planning | Weekly dinner plans and a grocery list | On Calendar Plus |
| Chores | Chores and to-dos | Chore chart free; rewards on Plus |
| Where you see it | On your phone | On the wall, and in the app |
Choose Skylight if
- You want a big shared screen kids can see and tap, with chore charts on the wall.
- You don't mind paying for hardware plus a yearly subscription for the smart features.
- You are fine forwarding school emails to get them onto the calendar.
Choose Fambee if
- You want the calendar filled from email without forwarding anything.
- You'd rather not buy a device, or you live mostly on your phone.
- You want one app that also plans dinners and tracks home maintenance and pets.
Forwarding vs reading the inbox
Forwarding works, but it depends on someone noticing the email and forwarding it, which tends to be the same parent who would have typed it in. SlashGear's review also noted that forwarded emails without dates are ignored without any notice. Fambee reads new school email as it arrives and shows you what it added, so the step that usually gets skipped doesn't exist.
Questions parents ask
Does Skylight need a subscription?
The display works without one for the basics, including calendar sync, lists and a chore chart. Magic Import, meal planning and rewards need Calendar Plus, which is $79 a year on Skylight's site as of October 2026.
Can Skylight read my email?
Skylight imports events from emails you forward to your Skylight address, along with photos and PDFs, on Calendar Plus. It doesn't watch your inbox on its own.
Is there a Skylight alternative without hardware?
Yes. Phone apps like Fambee, Cozi and FamilyWall give the family a shared calendar without a display. Fambee also fills the calendar from your email automatically.
Try Fambee free
Free on iPhone, with a monthly allowance. Fambee Pro lifts the limits for $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. Not on iPhone yet? Join the Android waitlist on the home page.
Download on the App Store